Gift Guide
Sumo Omni (sumolounge.com, $129.99)Our new favorite piece of video-game playing/DVD-watching/making-out furniture is half beanbag chair, half giant cushion (4.5' x 5.5' laid flat), which comes in ten colors and can be folded into umpteen one- or two-person seating positions. It’s made of rip-proof, spillproof nylon, easily tucks away in the corner of even the tiniest studio and also makes one heck of a dog bed!
The Sopranos: The Book—The Complete Deluxe Edition (Time Inc. Home Entertainment, $39.95)The ultimate guide to the people, places and history of the great mob drama has been updated to incorporate the final episodes, and now includes an interview featuring David Chase’s last comments ever (he swears this time) about the finale. Don’t stop believin’!
Gilmore Girls: The Complete Series Collection (Warner Home Video, $258.82)Some fans like to pretend the final season doesn’t exist, but anyone who loves the decade’s most culturally literate dramedy will flip for this collection, which includes a paperback annotating all of Lorelai and Rory’s random references, and is packaged in a faux-1960s Barbie playhouse.
Blade Runner Ultimate Collector’s Edition (Warner Home Video; $78.92, HD DVD and Blu-ray disc $99.98. Available Dec 18)Packaged in a reproduction of Rick Deckard’s steel briefcase, the definitive
Blade Runner DVD contains no less than five different versions of the movie (including an ultrarare work-print cut) and enough behind-the-scenes material to make the mind reel.
Rock Band (MTV Games/Harmonix/EA. Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 $169.99, available now; PlayStation 2 $159.99, available Dec 11) The creators of the first two
Guitar Heros join forces with MTV and expand the concept to include drums, bass and vocals. The result is very possibly this year’s Tickle Me Elmo for big kids (Amazon has already stopped taking preorders and refuses to guarantee pre-Christmas delivery).
Star Trek: The Next Generation—The Complete Series (Paramount Home Entertainment, $455.95)One hundred seventy-eight episodes. Forty-nine discs. One monster package. Expensive, to be sure (but much cheaper than purchasing all seven seasons individually), the complete ST:TNG is an invaluable catalog of quotes and metaphors for anyone who writes about pop culture and technology (or is just a big old geek).
i ♥ ira glass tote bag (careysveen.com, $45)Park Slope–based designer Carey Sveen salutes public radio’s most crushworthy intellectual with a collection of 16" x 16" canvas-and-felt totes available in three patterns (Yellowjacket, pictured, plus Lady-Bugged and Strawberry Sundae). Each bag contains an interior cell-phone pocket and can comfortably hold a 13" widescreen laptop along with daily necessities.
